Subject: RE: New Book: Folk Song in England From: Vic Smith Date: 12 Dec 17 - 06:39 AM Whilst agreeing with the vast majority of what Howard Jones says in his thoughtful post, could I amplify one point? - that songs recently entered the oral tradition from a variety of sources, the stage being only one of them and comment on one other - whilst I take the point that he makes about an audience's reaction to different aspects of singers' repertoires, I don't think that Walter Pardon was ever much of a pub singer. |
Subject: RE: New Book: Folk Song in England From: Vic Smith Date: 12 Dec 17 - 06:24 AM The review of this book in fRoots magazine appears on page 65 of the December 2017 issue. In the penultimate sentence of his review, Steve Hunt reaches the same conclusion as Dr. Vic Gammon (above) does in the first sentence of his - Folk Song In England Incidently, on that same page as this review is my review of As I Walked Out: Sabine Baring-Gould And The Search For The Folk Songs Of Devon And Cornwall Martin Graebe Signal (ISBN 978-1-909930-53-7) My final sentence of my review reads This volume will stand alongside Steve Roud's as major studies of traditional song. |
Subject: RE: New Book: Folk Song in England From: Howard Jones Date: 12 Dec 17 - 06:14 AM There seems to be an element of "damned if you do and damned if you don't". The early collectors have been criticised for being highly selective and only recording those songs which they considered to be 'proper' folk songs. Later collectors saw the importance of trying record a singer's entire repertoire without putting value judgements on the material. The purpose of the Roud Index, if I understand correctly, is to identify songs found in the oral tradition. That necessarily includes songs which which had clearly only recently entered the oral tradition from the stage. However even those often show variations between different singers - at what point do these slight variations become sufficient for them to have undergone the transformation required to become a 'folk song'? As for them serving a different purpose, whilst Walter Pardon apparently saw a difference between different parts of his repertoire, I wonder whether the same was true of his audience? I suspect for them the purpose of his songs, whether folk songs or not, was simply to provide entertainment on a Saturday night in the pub. As Jim correctly says, the oral tradition is an incredibly complex subject. Traditional singers performed material from many different sources, sometimes only to satisfy their audience but in other cases because they genuinely liked the songs. It appears to me that definitions should be used for guidance rather than to exclude. I am sure that most scholars are able to make appropriate distinctions depending on what aspects of the tradition they are studying. |
Subject: RE: New Book: Folk Song in England From: Jim Carroll Date: 11 Dec 17 - 12:59 PM "There must be some way of teaching Mudcat to handle quotes and apostrophes." It appears to be something we have to learn to live with for the time being Jim Carroll |
Subject: RE: New Book: Folk Song in England From: Jim Carroll Date: 11 Dec 17 - 12:37 PM "What impressed me in reading Roud?s own words was the respect he had for the opinions of others, " Funny you should say that Billy Anybody who can arbitrarily discard a century or so's research and unilaterally re-define the term folk-song' without consultation doesn't show a great deal of respect in my opinion I would say, that these are main quibbles with a somewhat large and otherwise extremely educational work, but they are pretty important ones Jim Carroll |
Subject: RE: New Book: Folk Song in England From: Billy Weeks Date: 11 Dec 17 - 11:39 AM Sorry about the question marks. There must be some way of teaching Mudcat to handle quotes and apostrophes. |
Subject: RE: New Book: Folk Song in England From: Billy Weeks Date: 11 Dec 17 - 11:37 AM Well Jim, I’m just an infant in this field and I wouldn’t presume to ‘address the contradictions that the book raises’. If it does raise contradictions, they have been examined in detail and at considerable length by yourself and others in this thread. What impressed me in reading Roud’s own words was the respect he had for the opinions of others, insisting on examining the available evidence before reaching his own (often tentative) conclusions. And he always draws attention to uncertainties caused by gaps in the historical record which may never be filled. Roud’s approach strikes me as honest and refreshing — and Gammon’s evaluation is surely fully justified. |
Subject: RE: New Book: Folk Song in England From: Jim Carroll Date: 11 Dec 17 - 07:46 AM I cannot see [it] being matched or surpassed in the foreseeable future'. Depressing thought- Neither can I Billy, if it is taken passively and not discussed fully No good quoting favourable quotes unless you address the contradictions that the book raises. Jim Carroll |
Subject: RE: New Book: Folk Song in England From: Billy Weeks Date: 11 Dec 17 - 07:20 AM I have followed the cutlass play in this thread with fascination. Very instructive at more than one level. But to turn, briefly, to the book itself, I have just read Vic Gammon's review in the Folk music Journal. He says 'This is the most important and interesting book on English folk song published in my life time'. And '[I]t is rich and enriching. I cannot see [it] being matched or surpassed in the foreseeable future'. |
Subject: RE: New Book: Folk Song in England From: Jim Carroll Date: 09 Dec 17 - 01:31 PM "Even Cecil Sharp noted down songs that he knew were originally commercial products," I have no problem with the fact that a number of roadsides and stage songs passed into the tradition, bt the suggestion that has ranged fro 93 to 100 percent it beyond the pale as far as Im concerned Ironically, non-literate Travellers were responsible for putting many on to ballad sheets. The oral tradition is an incredibly complex subject which has been componded by the fact that nobody really bothered to ask the singers anything much beyond their names and where they got their songs - little different than butterfly collecting "'A Bit of Powder'" it's a composed stage song, just as the two pieces I mentioned earlier were light opera Different source, different sound, different function What would have happened if Phil Tanner had sung Verdi arias as many South Welsh miners choirs did - would they merit Roud numbers? This "anything a traditional singer sings" redefinition is a new kid on the block We have an agreed definition, flawed as it might be, is as good as any, though that was a compromise to incorporate traditions of different nations. I'm aware it needs changing, but any changes need to be agreed by all concerned otherwise we lose our base of understanding Jim Carroll |
Subject: RE: New Book: Folk Song in England From: Brian Peters Date: 09 Dec 17 - 01:08 PM "I don't think you knew Walter, but we had long sessions of talk with him where he explains why some of his songs are 'folk' and others are not. He, like Mary, refused to sing his Victorian songs and early pop songs; "I don't know why people keep asking me for them old things"; yet his version of 'Put a Bit of Powder on it Father' now proudly bears a Roud number." I didn't know Walter, though I was lucky enough to hear him sing more than once. I don't doubt he, like other singers, could tell the difference between an older and a newer song and express a preference. But I can't see how Steve Roud could not have given 'A Bit of Powder' a number without setting himself up as arbiter of which of Walter's songs were 'folk' and which were not. Even Cecil Sharp noted down songs that he knew were originally commercial products, even if he didn't usually publish them. |
Subject: RE: New Book: Folk Song in England From: Jim Carroll Date: 09 Dec 17 - 11:59 AM Maybe I should have said Hank Williams ! I know Mary Delaney sang some of his, though she refused to sing any of her C and W songs for us as she said they weren't old and they were different from her "daddy's" songs One Traveller we met grew up knowing Seven Gypsies and Lord Randal - he sang us 'Roses of Heidelberg' and 'You Will Remember Vienna' Whence "everything a traditional singer sings is a folk song' in these cases? This 'definition' becomes ludicrous when you examine it closely " I've never heard it sung from the floor in all the years I've been going to clubs and song sessions," In those recent arguments Brian; it was argued that because Dave Burland sang it at a club it merited the title 'folk' The problem with all this is, of course, tat once an individual or group of individuals unilaterally take it upon themselves to re-define a term that has been around for as long as 'folk' has, they open the door to anybody wishing to do the same Then the term becomes meaningless and any chance of consensus and communication disappears. I don't think you knew Walter, but we had long sessions of talk with him where he explains why some of his songs are 'folk' and others are not. He, like Mary, refused to sing his Victorian songs and early pop songs; "I don't know why people keep asking me for them old things"; yet his version of 'Put a Bit of Powder on it Father' now proudly bears a Roud number. Walter would have been Mortified, but as far as I'm concerned, he holds a place of honour next to Child, Sharp et-al as having ""pre-conceived notions" that are "flapping quietly out of the window." I've never spoken to Steve Roud for any length of time, but I have met with disdain, condescension and insults elsewhere when I have challenged some of these ideas - from a major proponent o them - doesn't auger well for a good, flexible discussion on the subject. One of Steve's co-authors once old Pat and I that all our ideas on the singing of Irish Travellers was "wrong, because she had studied the subject at college" When we wrote the article on Walter for Tom Munnelly Festschrift, we entitled it "A Simple Countryman!!) in remembrance of the time when we had been told by a well know researcher that that Walter" must have been got at" because of his expressed views on folk songs. Dangerously elitist stuff, as far as I'm concerned. Arbitrarily re-defining folk song smacks of the same attitude, in my opinion If the theories propounded in Roud's book are taken seriously, it marks the end rather than the beginning of intelligent discussion. Jim Carroll |
Subject: RE: New Book: Folk Song in England From: Brian Peters Date: 09 Dec 17 - 11:17 AM "...when 'I Don't Like Mondays' is given a Roud number (given Roud's re-definition - why not?)" For one thing, Jim, Roud regards folk song as a historical phenomenon, and makes it clear that the folk revival is outside his field of interest. For another, even if you accept that the revival repertoire constitutes a tradition of itself, 'I Don't Like Mondays' would be a very weak candidate for canonization. I've never heard it sung from the floor in all the years I've been going to clubs and song sessions, and if the much-respected but famously eclectic Dave Burland hadn't started performing it several decades ago, it would never have come up in these discussions. |
Subject: RE: New Book: Folk Song in England From: Jim Carroll Date: 09 Dec 17 - 08:18 AM "Harker's 'Folksong'" Fakesong' of course Jim Carroll |
Subject: RE: New Book: Folk Song in England From: Jim Carroll Date: 09 Dec 17 - 07:41 AM ""pre-conceived notions are flapping quietly out of the window." sums this up perfectly. " Steve and Steve Gardahm's claims, challenge the preconceived notions of Child, Sharp, Maidment, Bronson and virtually every researcher who has ever put pen to paper on the subjet over the last couple of centuries, including those who were working while Britain still had a thriving oral tradition and a prosperous broadside industry. Unless more evidence than both the Steve's have put forward to date than hss been forthcoming so far, I certainly am not prepared to accept what has been put forward so far, simply because it does not make logical sense. I still remember the feeling of wanting to find out more I came away with from Bert Lloyd's 'Folk Songs of England' - the enthusiasm generated still remains a part of my life half a century later I came away from Roud's book in despair - "how could we all have got it so wrong for so long?" - or I would have done if I had taken the claims seriously. For me, it was the same effect I felt when I read Harker's 'Folksong', though, luckily, then there were enough people around to question Harker's claims and reject them I think it was Vic who put up the Guardian review - I was immediately impressed with how quickly one of the spokesmen for elitist Art Establishment leapt on the suggestion the 'The Folk' didn't make their 'Folk Songs' - "real" artists have always been uneasy that amateurs could produce what they make their living at - and the idea that illiterate or semi-literate peasants coul write poems and make songs.... welll 'who do these people think they are' I feel that Roud's book would have been better named, 'English Pop Songs', because basically, that's what it was, with all the differing genres lumped together under the 'Folk' umbrella. I sincerely hope that these claims do not do the damage to folk song scholarship that similar ones have done to the Folk Song Revival - we will know that they have when 'I Don't Like Mondays' is given a Roud number (given Roud's re-definition - why not?) Jim Carroll |
Subject: RE: New Book: Folk Song in England From: Vic Smith Date: 09 Dec 17 - 06:31 AM Jon wrote:- "I'm inclined to believe that your average farm labourer or industrial worker was not responsible for a lot of original composition, not because he or she didn't have the imagination or intelligence, but because illiteracy was pretty common. " That's what I would suspect also, but the thing about Steve's writing in this book is that anything that anyone is "inclined to believe" is inadmissible to Steve unless there is firm historical evidence to support each statement. It calls for an entirely different, more disciplined way of thinking and challenges us to re-examine some core beliefs. Your final phrase "pre-conceived notions are flapping quietly out of the window." sums this up perfectly. Incidently, do you share my difficulty in squaring Steve Roud, the clear, challenging and original thinker that emerges in the pages of this book with Steve Roud, the genial, gentle humourist and good listener that we meet in Sussex Traditions management meetings? |
Subject: RE: New Book: Folk Song in England From: Jim Carroll Date: 09 Dec 17 - 05:25 AM " I'm inclined to believe that your average farm labourer or industrial worker was not responsible for a lot of original composition, not because he or she didn't have the imagination or intelligence, but because illiteracy was pretty common." I intend to say a bit more on this, but I'm inclined to agree with James Hogg's mother, Margaret Laidlaw, who was part of a song-making tradition, when she warmed that putting her songs into print would ruin them ‘They were made for singing an’ no for reading; but ye ha’e broken the charm now, an’ they’ll never be sung mair.’ Roud has confined his comments to the material gathered in largely Southern England at the beginning of the 20th century when the oral tradition was well into its death throes, but I refuse to believe that rural English workers, even at that time, were any less creative than their brothers and sisters in Ireland and Scotland, who were busily making songs tht reflected their lives, experiences and feelings. I menat to thank Vic fort re-penin this thread - saved me the trouble Jim Carroll |
Subject: RE: New Book: Folk Song in England From: GUEST,Jon Dudley Date: 09 Dec 17 - 05:01 AM Steve's book has just fallen on my face as I lost my grip on this weighty tome (me - lazily semi recumbent and reading in the Sussex winter sunshine). I'm about one third of the way through and so far finding it fascinating. Much musical stuff goes way above my head of course but there's tons to stimulate the grey matter. Steve reminds us, and we've known for years that 'The Shepherd Adonis' clearly written by someone with more than a smattering of education, transmogrified into one of our favourites 'Shepherd of The Downs' and mysteriously gained a final verse - that's what makes the whole damned thing so intriguing. Unless there were a plethora of 'Peasant Poets' like John Clare knocking about the place I'm inclined to believe that your average farm labourer or industrial worker was not responsible for a lot of original composition, not because he or she didn't have the imagination or intelligence, but because illiteracy was pretty common. There again Steve tells us that we shouldn't underestimate just how literate people were back then...oh dear a lot of my pre-conceived notions are flapping quietly out of the window. |
Subject: RE: New Book: Folk Song in England From: Jim Carroll Date: 08 Dec 17 - 09:21 AM Thanks for that Viv (hope you enjoyed your trip) I've been doing a fair amount of research on Roud's 'redefinition' of folk song of late and it appears to be based on what 'the folk' listened to rather than something they participated in the creation of It seems to me that good research on something that is long defunct is based on extending past research rather than turning it on its head and kicking it out of the window, which is, I feel, what he has done. Jim Carroll |
Subject: RE: New Book: Folk Song in England From: Vic Smith Date: 08 Dec 17 - 09:08 AM I still have not finished reading Folk Song In England - being out of the country for over a month hasn't helped but my instinctive feeling is that this book is best read in small doses, a chapter at the time, to allow the brain time to absorb the implications before moving on to read and digest another aspect. The day after reading the review by Vic Gammon which I posted above, I read this passage (pages 442 ? 444) which seem to encapsulate very much of the attitude and approach that Steve Roud brings to his book: - It has been reliably claimed that 90 to 95 per cent of the items at Victorian and Edwardian collectors noted as 'folk songs' had appeared on broadsides in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. This in itself no solid indicator of a direct link between print and oral tradition, but coupled with examples of direct testimony from singers about the quality of the songs from broadsides and songbooks, and the growing number of studies using internal evidence, the trend is abundantly clear. |
Subject: RE: New Book: Folk Song in England From: Vic Smith Date: 08 Dec 17 - 09:04 AM As long ago as 05 Sep 17 - 12:07 PM, I posted a link to the first published review which appeared in a rather unlikely place - in The Economist. I commented on the review that it was a factual account and a precis of the contents rather than any statement about the value of the book or a comparison with anything that has been published in the past. Steve Gardham reacted to this in a rather wise way writing, As you say, Vic, a fair precis, but no critique. Part of the problem we face is there are not many people about who are truly qualified to criticise what it has to say. Where were going to find a person with such qualifications? Well, I think that this person has been found! Here is the lengthy review published in the Folk Music Journal (Volume 11 * Number 3 * 2018 - pages 127-130). I ought to point out that in separate conversations with both author and reviewer that both have expressed strong mutual admiration for the work that the other has completed and that they have both been members of the Editorial Board of the FMJ, Britain's foremost academic folk music journal for many years. I do not feel that this in any way invalidates the review:- Folk Song in England |
Subject: RE: New Book: Folk Song in England From: Jim Carroll Date: 15 Nov 17 - 09:24 AM "when he finds interesting current material in rural Ireland, it's all about verbal content" Every single singer we interviewed on the subject regarded themselves as storytellers whose tales came with tunes. This includes Walter Pardon. The older generation of singers confirmed that over and over again with their narrative approach to their songs This is what Tom Lenihan said on the subject Tom Lenihan talking about singing. 2m 31s J C What?s the word you used Tom, this afternoon; ?blas? * what?? T L The blas, that?s what the old people used to use; if you didn?t put the blas in the song. The same as that now the?..as we?ll say ?Michael Hayes?, ?The Fox Chase?: I am a bold and undaunted fox that never was before on tramp, My rent, rates and taxes I was willing for to pay, I lived as happy as King Saul, and loved my neighbours great and small, I had no animosity for either friend nor foe. You have to draw out the words and put the blas in the song. If you had the same as the Swedish couple: Now I am a bold and undaunted fox that never was before on tramp. The blas isn?t in that, in any bit of it. You see now, the blas is the drawing out of the words and the music of it. J C What do you think you?re passing on with a song Tom; is it a good tune, is it a good story, or nice poetry or what? T L It is some story I?m passing on with the song all the time. In the composition that was done that time, or the poets that was in it that time, they had the real stuff to compose their songs; they had some story in it. As I tell you about ?The Christmas Letter?, they had some story, but in today?s poets, there is no story but the one thing over and over and over again, you see. But that time they had the real story for to start off the song. And the same as the song I?m after singing there, ?The Fair Maiden In Her Father?s garden?, well, that happened sometime surely; the lover came back and she didn?t know him of course, but yet he knew her and there he was, and that happened for certain. ?Michael Hayes? happened. ?The Christmas Letter? as I say, all them old traditional stuff; that old mother that got the letter for Christmas from her family; all them things happened. It was right tradition down along; it was a story or something that happened. *Blas (Irish) = relish; taste; good accent. Tom went on at great length about how you had to be careful to maintain the narrative sense of the songs and nor over-ornament Virtually all singers, bad health excepting, pitched their singing around speaking tones, never broke up words and verbally put the punctuation where it belonged The Irish language songs were different - a display of technique rather than storytelling, but there are far fewer narrative songs in that repertoire Jim Carroll |
Subject: RE: New Book: Folk Song in England From: Jack Campin Date: 15 Nov 17 - 08:46 AM Sharp and his contemporaries found an English folk song culture which was very much alive in melodic invention - the tunes they wrote down were very different from anything you could have found in print in Chappell's books. And that process continued much longer in North America. I get the impression that the English-language Irish song culture was pretty much dead as far as melodic invention went at the same time, and hasn't shown any signs of coming back to life since. Jim never mentions tunes at all - when he finds interesting current material in rural Ireland, it's all about verbal content. So I guess they just rehash a small fixed repertoire of commonplace tunes. What does Roud say about the evolution of melodies? |
Subject: RE: New Book: Folk Song in England From: Jim Carroll Date: 15 Nov 17 - 06:47 AM Don't kow what differences there were in the the way the two traditions were made and transmitted Martin The repertoires were different, sure, but rhe social circumstances in which they were created were almost identical I'm referring to the English language tradition of course - the Gaeilge was totally different, I'll give you Jim Carroll |
Subject: RE: New Book: Folk Song in England From: GUEST,Martin Ryan Date: 15 Nov 17 - 06:21 AM The only major difference between England and Ireland is that the Irish tradition lasted far longer as a living entity Gotta love that "only" ! ;>)> Regards |
Subject: RE: New Book: Folk Song in England From: Jim Carroll Date: 15 Nov 17 - 05:20 AM "An Irish perspective would be rather different, methinks - but that's to be expected." The only major difference between England and Ireland is that the Irish tradition lasted far longer as a living entity, where even in Sharp's time singing was on its last legs - a constant comment by Sharp and his contemporaries Britain and Ireland shared a large number of traditional songs - many of the Irish versions of ballads had disappeared from the repertoires elsewhere in the English speaking world. Mid twentieth century rural Ireland presented a picture of what life must have been like half a a century earlier in Britain The repertoires were different because the social situation they represented were different I think the problem with Roud is that he has arbitrarily decided to re-define folk song (apparently without consulting anybody else working in the field) I have constantly argued on the importance of definition and have been happy to point to the Roud index as a guide to what I mean - no longer the case. Out of interest, I looked up one of Walter Pardon's songs, 'Put a Bit of Powder on it Father', composed by Harry Castling & Fred Godfrey ? 1908. It fits no existing definition of 'folk' I know of, yet Roud has assigned it a number, Roud No:10671, in his index attributed to Walter's singing of it Walter was insistent that this and all songs of the same ilk were not folk song and went to great lengths to explain why - but as always, the traditional singers' opinions carry no weight if they don't follow the academic's rule-book. Vic Smith's quoting him as saying "A traditional folk song is a song sung by a folk singer. What a folk singer sings is traditional songs" apparently wasn't a joke. We recorded an Irish Traveller whose repertoire included Seven Gypsies and Edward, which, I would say makes him a "folk singer" He sang for us 'Roses of Heidelberg' and 'You Will Remember Vienna'. Can we now expect these to be assigned Roud numbers - if not, why not? This I believe, not only debases folk song, but it makes nonsense of the English language when people can seriously use it irrespective of its meaning - Stanley Unwin rides again! Jim Carroll |
Subject: RE: New Book: Folk Song in England From: GUEST,Martin Ryan Date: 15 Nov 17 - 04:06 AM I've only read half an inch, its really hard work even to hold up! I bought the Kindle edition - and really enjoyed being able to pick it up at any stage and read a chapter or two. Got through it relatively quickly and found it both informative and enjoyable. An Irish perspective would be rather different, methinks - but that's to be expected. Regards |
Subject: RE: New Book: Folk Song in England From: Jim Carroll Date: 15 Nov 17 - 03:34 AM " a cut-price offer for the book (?21.25)." The Book Depository have it for ?18.63 - post free, which is a considerable saving for a book this size Jim Carroll |
Subject: RE: New Book: Folk Song in England From: Jack Campin Date: 14 Nov 17 - 08:51 AM The Guardian review mentioned by Derek Schofield also includes a cut-price offer for the book (£21.25). |
Subject: RE: New Book: Folk Song in England From: JHW Date: 13 Nov 17 - 06:22 AM 'I have yet to read Roud's book from cover to cover' Thank goodness I'm not alone, I've only read half an inch, its really hard work even to hold up! |
Subject: RE: New Book: Folk Song in England From: Jim Carroll Date: 13 Nov 17 - 03:58 AM I'm reluctant to let this slip out of sight without a final word on my position on this subject, so here goes I have yet to read Roud's book from cover to cover, personal commitments have prevented me from doing so, but I will do in the near future I do feel I have read enough to form an opinion on some of the subjects covered to have drawn some conclusions. I'm not an academic, but I have always been an avid reader on folksong pretty well from the mid-sixties and have acquired a substantial library on the subject - fully read. It seems to me based on that reading that one of the points of Roud's book turns one of my gained opinions on its head - that we can no longer believe folk song to be 'the voice of the people' it was previously believed to be, but that it was created by proven unskilled, desk bound urban hacks scribbling verse for money. A pretty serious claim and one I'm not prepared to accept without full explanation or at least, minute examination on my part - I have no right to demand an explanation from anybody. There has always been a tendency from some quarters to suggest that 'the folk' were not skilful enough to have written the ballads, mots clearly put in Phillips Barry's statement in 1939 that To put it in a single phrase, memory not invention is the function of the folk?. Now that attitude has spread to include to include virtually all our folk songs - a serious charge, and one too important to let though on the nod. All our folk literature has, as far as I can make out, regarded that our folk songs were created by the agricultural working people - Child, Sharp, Lomax, Gummere, Wimberley.... Child dismissed the broadsides out of hand, Sharp wrote at length about their malign influence. From the large number of broadside collections we have on our shelves here I think the quality of hack writing makes it nigh impossible that they could have been the authors of the songs found in collections like Sharp, Greig, Buchan, Child.... dry crumbly chalk compared to fine cheese. When I have attempted to debate this with one of the main proponents of this argument I have been met with evasion, feeble excuses and often on-the-spot inventions - "English workers were too busy earning a living to make songs", ""hack" doesn't really mean bad writing", "broadside writers gained their knowledge of working practices by serving time at sea or working on the land", "Child was beginning to change his mind about broadsides".... Examples of working people actually making songs were passed off as "the scribblings of retired people" Our personal researches over thirty odd years, both in England and Ireland, comprised initially collecting songs, but eventually in interviewing our sources to see where they stood on their art. In Ireland, we uncovered a large number of local songmakers making songs on any subject that caught their fancy, from local day-to-day experiences to national events viewed locally That was swept aside by, "it was different in Ireland" - another excuse when you consider that Ireland was under English influence for eight centuries and her song repertoire is loaded with songs and particularly ballads that originated in England and Scotland. In 1985. Dave Harket published 'Fakesong', a work largely setting our to undermine the work of early collectors by taking it out of context of the time it was carried out. As the title makes clear, it questions the existence of folk song as a genuine workers culture. It seems to me that setting out to show that our folk songs originated on the broadside presses is a further step along that road. It is a serious stap and one that needs carful consideration Jim Carroll |
Subject: RE: New Book: Folk Song in England From: Jim Carroll Date: 11 Nov 17 - 08:44 AM " This isn?t to deny that oral transmission was key in disseminating folk songs around a community in which few people could read, but the fact remains that the material was just as likely to have first slipped into the village on a piece of paper rather than on the tip of someone?s tongue." I hope the authors and their support are happy to see the credit for making these songs gradually being eased away from working people 'the folk' and handed over to notoriously bad poets - without a shred of proof of who actually made them. Based on the amount of evidence they have presented to back up their claims, i find it utterly irresponsible Jim Carroll |
Subject: RE: New Book: Folk Song in England From: GUEST,Derek Schofield Date: 11 Nov 17 - 08:13 AM There's a review of Steve's book (remember that? It's in the subject line...) in today's Guardian. Support the newspaper by buying a copy .... or alternatively read it here, with quite a number of comments. Guardian review of Folk Song in England Derek |
Subject: RE: New Book: Folk Song in England From: Jim Carroll Date: 10 Nov 17 - 12:11 PM If I despaired I wouldn't bother arguing Brian I too respect the work of those you mention and am tired of these discussions ending up in cat-fights, but I believe traditional songs to be important enough to get things right - it's been gotten wrong so often before. For me, one of the most fundamental things has been whether singers were also composers, as I believe they were. I too got enormous pleasure from listening to Sam, Harry, Walter, et al, and from singing the songs (I sill do), but taken as a whole, the tradition is far wider than that, The overturning of an entire belief, over a century's research seems so important a step as not to be taken lightly and certainly without examining all the facts and implications I can't see any other way other than thrash it out - sorry Jim |
Subject: RE: New Book: Folk Song in England From: Brian Peters Date: 10 Nov 17 - 11:10 AM Very interesting account of 'The Fiddler's Wife', thanks Jim. I have to say I find it sad that this debate has got so polarised, especially since some of the harshest words here have been exchanged by people with very similar enthusiasms. I'm sure you know, Jim, that Vic Smith has spent a lot of time with traditional singers from Sheila Stewart to Bob Copper, and that Steve Gardham has himself collected many songs in the field. These are not people who wish to destroy the notion of traditional song just for the sake of iconoclasm. They, and I, and others here, would enjoy listening to Mikeen McCarthy, or Walter Pardon, just as much as you. For me, the pleasure of hearing a recording of Phil Tanner or Sam Larner sing a version of 'Henry Martin' is completely unaffected by whether the song came to them via (or originated on) a broadside - I just marvel at the artistry of the performance. And there is still a hunger for traditional song out there in the wider 'folk' world, even though some of the younger enthusiasts may have heard traditional singers only through recordings. Do not despair. I could go on, but that'll do for now. |
Subject: RE: New Book: Folk Song in England From: Jim Carroll Date: 10 Nov 17 - 08:40 AM Just checked again The only reported sighting of Mkey's story as a song is an unpublished version from Newfoundland Memorial University Folklore Archive (MUNFLA) (St. John's, Newfoundland)" Jim Carroll |
Subject: RE: New Book: Folk Song in England From: Jim Carroll Date: 10 Nov 17 - 08:09 AM "If we printed all these messages in a book, it'd be as long as Steve Roud's 750 page tome!" And maybe the two Steves might learn from them Waddya think Derek? Jim Carroll |
Subject: RE: New Book: Folk Song in England From: GUEST,Derek Schofield Date: 10 Nov 17 - 07:49 AM If we printed all these messages in a book, it'd be as long as Steve Roud's 750 page tome! Derek |
Subject: Lyr Add: THE MERCHANT AND THE FIDDLER'S WIFE From: Jim Carroll Date: 10 Nov 17 - 05:33 AM To continue this 'chicken or egg?' song/story theme Below is a story we recorded from a retired Irish building worker we met in Deptford in the 1970s; as far as I know, the song never entered to oral tradition, if such a turgid piece was ever sung. Mikey Kelleher was originally from Quilty, the next village from here Clare, a small coastal fishing village; he moved to England and in the 1940s and never returned home The village was renowned for stories like these' basically jokes, often without punch lines Mikey gave us dozens of these 'yarns' including a story version of 'The Bishop of Canterbury' (Child 45) and a convoluted tale of a young woman presenting a mouse in a matchbox to a former lover who she had promised her maidenhead to, as substitute for her sexual parts MacColl traced this to the writings of Spanish playwright, Rojas (1465/73) The area Mikey came from was totally devoid of literature such as this; as far as the songs are concerned, its overwhelming literary influence would be the 'ballads' sold by non-literate Travellers who would go to a printer, recite songs from their own oral repertoire and sell them at the fairs and markets; this continued right up to the 1950s, when the last 'ballad' found as 'The Bar With No Stout', a parody of one of the latest pop songs. The point I am trying to make is that to consign our traditional repertoire to the broadsides seems to me an exercise in the facile by desk-bound researchers who simply haven't done the math The link reall is far more complicated than that. Jim Carroll The Fiddler's wife There was two old walkers and they wanted to go across to America and the hadn't enough money So she went down to the captain and she was a lovely piece, and he said, "Oh, I'll be all right there" She asked him to now would he take here across "All right", he said, himself and herself and the man went in and he was playing the old fiddle, you see. They had travelled away, of course, and she didn't like to refuse him, you know, in case he wouldn't let her off, you know. She carries on with him and he went up to the old boy and, "I'll bet you this ship" he said, "and cargo, against your fiddle", he said, "That I'll have her before I land". The old boy bet the fiddle with him anyway; and up they goes, he called them in. The old boy was frettin', he knew she was inside. "Hold tight my love", he says, "hold tight", (he was singing a song) For just a half an hour Hol tight my love, hold tight And the ship and cargo will be ours She said: "You're late my love, you're late my love," she said He has me by the middle, "I',m on my back, we're havin' a craic, And you have lost your old fiddle" The Merchant and the Fidler's Wife. From 'D'Urfey's Pills to Purge Melancholy, (Vol 5 pp77-80) (1719) It was a Rich Merchant Man, That had both Ship and all; And he would cross the salt Seas, Tho' his cunning it was but small. The Fidler and his Wife, They being nigh at hand ; Would needs go sail along with him, From Dover unto Scotland. The Fidler's Wife look'd brisk, Which made the Merchant smile ; He made no doubt to bring it about, The Fidler to beguile. Is this thy Wife the Merchant said, She looks like an honest Spouse; Ay that she is, the Fidler said, That ever trod on Shoes. Thy Confidence is very great, The Merchant then did say; If thou a Wager darest to bet, I'll tell thee what I will lay'. I'll lay my Ship against thy Fiddle, And all my Venture too; So Peggy may gang along with me, My Cabin for to View. If she continues one Hour with me, Thy true and constant Wife ; Then shalt thou have my Ship and be, A Merchant all thy Life. The Fidler was content, He Danc'd and Leap'd for joy ; And twang'd his Fiddle in merriment, For Peggy he thought was Coy. Then Peggy she went along, His Cabin for to View ; And after her the Merchant-Man, Did follow, we found it true. When they were once together, The Fidler was afraid ; For he crep'd near in pitious fear, And thus to Peggy he said. Hold out, sweet Peggy hold out, For the space of two half Hours; If thou hold out, I make no doubt, But the Ship and Goods are ours. In troth, sweet Robin, I cannot, He hath got me about the Middle ; He's lusty and strong, and hath laid me along, O Robin thou'st lost thy Fiddle. If I have lost my Fiddle, Then am I a Man undone ; My Fiddle whereon I so often play'd, Away I needs must run. O stay the Merchant said, And thou shalt keep thy place; And thou shalt have thy Fiddle again, But Peggy shall carry the Case. Poor Robin hearing that, He look'd with a Merry-chear; His wife she was pleas'd, and the Merchant was eas'd, And jolly and brisk they were. The Fidler he was mad, But valu'd it not a Fig; Then Peggy unto her Husband said, Kind Robin play us a Jigg. Then he took up his Fiddle, And merrily he did play ; The Scottish Jigg and the Hornpipe, And eke the Irish Hey. It was but in vain to grieve, The Deed it was done and past; Poor Robin was bom to carry the Horn, For Peggy could not be Chast. Then Fidlers all beware, Your Wives are kind you see ; And he that's made for the Fidling Trade, Must never a Merchant be. For Peggy she knew right well, Although she was but a Woman ; That Gamesters Drink, and Fidlers Wives, They are ever Free and Common. |
Subject: RE: New Book: Folk Song in England From: Jim Carroll Date: 09 Nov 17 - 03:11 AM "I know a lot less than I thought." We all do L What pissess me off about these arguments is how far away from the dream of the early days we have drifted. I was part of a scene that included nights of ballad evenings, themed, poetry and song performances, calls from the club platform for volunteers to take part in fishing expeditions to uncover children's songs in local schools, workshops to help aspiring singers.... We had our own magazines and record labels and a wealth of programmes on every aspect of folk song and music under the sun, freely available on the radio.... Now we're reduced to arguing whether the composer of 'The Cat's Meat Man' might also have written 'Lord Gregory'!! Even if we want to keep up with current research we have to consider re-mortgaging the house to buy the literature! As for magnificent productions like MacColl's, 'Song Carriers' and Lloyd's 'Songs of the People' - you can't even give 'em away to modern 'folk' enthusiasts' who appear to believe that Bob Geldof is a folk performer and composer Did we really manage to make such a ****-up of the folk revival? I remember Pat and I taking Kerry Traveller Mikeen McCarthy to a local children's literature festival in Deptford, South-East London, some time in the early 80s. Mikeen was a singer, storyteller tinsmith, caravan builder, horse dealer, street singer and 'ballad seller'.... - you name it, he did it. He sat in front of an audience of mainly pre-teen schoolchildren and sang, told stories and talked about fairy lore, pishogues, fairs and markets, tinsmithing, thatching, gladdering, life on the roads of rural Ireland..... for well over an hour and a half. The teachers had carefully arranged the chairs in lines with Mikeen sitting formally at the front - a big gap between him and them. Gradually they abandoned the chairs, slid across the floor on their bums and finally formed a tight circle of rapt faces around Mikeen's feet, completely engrossed in what he had to say. Where have all those flowers gone, I wonder? Him Carroll |
Subject: RE: New Book: Folk Song in England From: Lighter Date: 08 Nov 17 - 07:16 PM Fascinating histories, Brian, esp. that of "The Wild Rover." I know a lot less than I thought. |
Subject: RE: New Book: Folk Song in England From: Brian Peters Date: 08 Nov 17 - 03:11 PM Fascinating, Jim. |
Subject: RE: New Book: Folk Song in England From: Jim Carroll Date: 08 Nov 17 - 02:47 PM "I don't know -" Neither do I "'Hind Horn' is one that did exist as a medieval romance" And was also found in Europe In the other hand, it also shares its motifs both with folk tales and at least one ballad, Lord Bateman - lover returning in disguise demanding the fulfilment of a promise When we firsts recorded singers in Clare we hit a rich seam of 'big' storytellers, particularly i the Burren area of North Clare The first story we recorded was about an hour long and started with the 'Gawain and the Green Knight' 'year and a day' motif and ended with the lover returning in disguise on her lover's wedding day claiming her promise of marriage. The teller's nearest neighbour gave us a magnificent version of 'Lord Bateman' which ended with exactly the same motif. You really do need a crowbar to separate songs and stories, especially in areas like this. The area as a whole was once the stamping ground of Seamus Delargy, the founder of The Irish Folklore Society - some of the finest tales collected in Ireland were taken from there, from both singers and storytellers. The non-literate Travellers sang the big ballads because they liked long stories - we are the beneficiaries of that good taste Jim Carroll |
Subject: RE: New Book: Folk Song in England From: Brian Peters Date: 08 Nov 17 - 01:21 PM "I question the claim that the broadside version of the Demon Lover is definitely the first - the story is quite popular as ain international tale" I did wonder at one point whether the seven familiar verses from 'A Warning for Married Women' might have been part of an earlier undetected version around which Laurence Price erected a massive scaffolding of unneccessary verbiage, but there's no evidence for that. 'Hind Horn' is one that did exist as a medieval romance, and harks in one respect back to the Odyssey. But that kind of reworking of an older tale suggests to me a poet's hand (just as Shakespeare rehashed older plots) more than anything. 'Golden Vanity - was the broadside definitely the original?' I don't know - I just used it as an example of an older broadside that reads very much like the sung versions. |
Subject: RE: New Book: Folk Song in England From: Jim Carroll Date: 08 Nov 17 - 12:32 PM Couple of assumptions there Brian I question the claim that the broadside version of the Demon Lover is definitely the first - the story is quite popular as ain international tale (can't remember the Stith Thomson number, but we have it in one of your published collections) It might well have been an original composition, but it could just as likely have been created from either a tale or existing song) Same with the Golden Vanity - was the broadside definitely the original? I'm not prepared to argue the case for individual songs; I fully accept that either might be the case What disturbs me is the definitive and all- embracing nature of the claims and the implications of what they imply Can over a century of scholarship really have been so wrong? Jim Carroll |
Subject: RE: New Book: Folk Song in England From: Brian Peters Date: 08 Nov 17 - 11:21 AM Jim wrote: "The broadside output runs contrary to the traditional repertoire in style and in quality - most of the published broadside collections are crammed full of unsingable songs" This is true for a lot of them; Harry Boardman used to have me create songs out of 19th broadsides for his radio broadcasts and, if not literally unsingable, a lot of them were pretty bloody awful. But then there's no reason that a print original should have had to be singable in the first place. Apologies for going back to 'The Wild Rover', but it's the one I know most about. The original ballad by Thomas Lanfiere, 'The Good-fellow's Resolution', is indeed wordy and moralistic - like many similar ballads of its day, composed by Lanfiere and others - although verses 1, 8 and 9 clearly belong to the song as we know it. You wouldn't look at that text and think it was the work of an unlettered toper of the lower classes. But what happened to it next - probably around 1800 - was clearly a conscious edit rather than some kind of oral processing, since in the course of cutting the song down to five verses stanzas have been deliberately cut-and-pasted, split, rejoined and boiled down. Thereafter there is a trail of 19th century broadsides each looking a bit more like the song as collected in oral tradition. So, even though the original was arguably 'unsingable', it nonetheless formed the basis for something that became highly singable. Something similar seems to have happened with Child 243 ('The Demon Lover'), in which seven verses from the middle section of a 32 verse original 'A Warning for Married Women' - were cut out and used as the basis for a new ballad. However, if you look at Child 286 ('The Sweet Trinity' / 'Golden Vanity' etc) The 17th century London broadside 'Sir Walter Raleigh Sailing in the Low-lands' is almost word-for-word) the same as oral versions collected in Appalachia by Cecil Sharp (apart from Sir Walter's part in the drama), and seems to have gone into oral tradition more or less unedited, then remained more or less unaltered for 200+ years. Re Sharp's diaries: I've spent a lot of time with his Appalachian diaries (I'm not aware that he kept one when he was collecting in England) and they don't really provide answers. Where he asked a singer about their source, the answer was usually a senior family member. He saw no printed broadsides, though he did observe one or two handwritten 'ballets'. Some of the songs he collected have texts almost identical to those in 19th century songsters, but the majority do not. The most popular ballads noted by Sharp from mountain repertoire are mostly those known to have existed in print in the 17th or early 18th century (Barbara Allen, Lord Thomas and Fair Ellender, House Carpenter etc), which fits with the notion that 18th century migrants brought them over, either on paper or in their heads. Of course the fact that most of them were in print by the 17th century does not necessarily mean that the migrants learned them directly from broadsides, but it does tell us that they were definitely around in England at the appropriate time, and suggests that they arrived with the settlers rather than being learned by later generations in America. |
Subject: RE: New Book: Folk Song in England From: Jim Carroll Date: 08 Nov 17 - 09:16 AM "advising me not to try to reason with Jim" Your "reasoning" appears to refer to capitulation to non-argument My case is simple We don't know who made the folk songs, therefore we have to work with what information we have and use our common sense I have pointed out that the quality of the output of the broadside writers does not match up to that of our folk songs The knowledge contained in our folk songs is hardly that you would expect from a bench bound, urban based broadside hacks. I have proved to my own satisfaction that rural working people were more than capable of making songs, having done so throughout the 19th century - in Britain and particularly in Ireland. I have pointed out over and over again that researchers such as Child, Burns, Sharp, Isaac Walton - even broadside producers themselves, regarded these songs as products of the countryside, not the town. Child dismissed broadsides as products of the "dunghill" at the time the trade was at its height, Sharp wrote a long dissertation explaining his contemptuous attitude to broadsides. The whole idea that the vast majority of our folksongs started life as broadsides is a 21st century one which overrides previous beliefs that 'the folk' created their songs Steve's case has vacillated from 'all our songs' when he described MacColl's comments at the end of 'The Song Carriers" as "romantic nonsense", to his sometimes present situation of 'only those collected by Sharp, et al.' The article of Steve's put up up by Tim suggests that he has not moved from "all folk songs" - The Song Carrier's' comment disparaged as "romantic nonsense' included the entire repertoire, from 'The Frog and The Mouse' - the first folk song ever mentioned in print, right through to an Irish song composed during WW2. The article mentions 18th century 'Pleasure Gardens' and theatres, as being the source of our folk songs What's it to be - the entire repertoire or just those collected in the 20th century - he can't have it both ways? If I am being "unreasonable", as Vic and his supporters from the shadows, have accused me of being, what arguments have I missed, or what have I got wrong? It seems to me that all I am guilty of is refusing to take the opinions of a handful of desk-bound academics on trust Jim Carroll |
Subject: RE: New Book: Folk Song in England From: Jim Carroll Date: 08 Nov 17 - 07:20 AM "Baring-Gould's contact with folk singers goes back to the 1860s!" Baring Gould's work has only just become available for public consideration - his published song collections prior to the current book contain only notes to the songs As excellent as they are, they do not touch on the songs in context to the communities they come from As I said, our knowledge of that context stretches back to the beginning of the twentieth century, which is why Wilgus entitled his book as he did Even Steve Gardham has agreed that this is how far back our knowledge goes and we can only speculate on who made the songs It remains to be seen how much the Baring Gould Ms or the Sharp diaries - and all the other passing references add to the question "I have received two PMs advising me not to try to reason with Jim," And I have a log, arrogant and abusive PM from one of the protagonists here - wasn't it you who once told me that it was unethical to use PS in these arguments? PMs are for those who don't have the bottle to state their beliefs openly (talking behind ones back, in other words) Not something I puut a lot of trust in Shame on you Vic, using something you have yourself condemned - tsk-tsk! Perhaps you should follow your own advice Jim Carroll |
Subject: RE: New Book: Folk Song in England From: Vic Smith Date: 08 Nov 17 - 06:40 AM Tracing it back - Jim wrote (03 Nov 17 - 04:44 AM) It's why I don't make pronouncements and why I wish you didn't. I replied (04 Nov 17 - 05:38 AM) . but you do, Jim, you make them all the time and that is why you are challenged on them Jim wrote (07 Nov 17 - 03:58 AM) It cannot be repeated enough that our knowledge of folk song does not precede the beginning of the twentieth century. Perhaps stupidly, I rose to the bait and challenged him (07 Nov 17 - 03:15 PM) Outrageous......Jim has also stated recently on Mudcat that he does not make pronouncements. In that case, I wonder what the above quotation is. Jim replies (07 Nov 17 - 05:53 PM Tell me where it does Vic - not a pronouncement of mine. What am I supposed to reply to that? Am I expected to repeat what I said above - Jim wrote (03 Nov 17 - 04:44 AM) It's why I don't make pronouncements and why I wish you didn't. Finally, and it really is finally as far as any attempts on my part to hold discussions with Jim, I read in his long bluster of 08 Nov 17 - 03:40 AM he says:- A true approach to where our folk songs came from would be to gather together what contemporary information there is, including Baring Gould's writings.... Aaargh! But Jim, you have to us "our knowledge of folk song does not precede the beginning of the twentieth century." and Baring-Gould's contact with folk singers goes back to the 1860s! I was actually thinking that Jim stating that we should "gather together what contemporary information" to inform our studies was a good thing. Yes, we are getting somewhere - that is exactly what we should be doing....... then he writes We know that some of the motifs and references used in traditional song making go back to Shakespeare and Boccaccio, even as far as Homer, who was liberally borrowing from folk beliefs. Can we look forward to Jim's exposition using "contemporary information" on what were "folk beliefs" around the late 8th or early 7th century BC? I have received two PMs advising me not to try to reason with Jim, From here on that advice will be followed. |
Subject: RE: New Book: Folk Song in England From: Jim Carroll Date: 08 Nov 17 - 03:40 AM "221 - 406 of the book under discussion for meticulously researched evidence of the state of folk song in England from the 16th to the 19th century." I've read this Vic - if you re-read it. Roud treats it as an Urban phenomenon and from the point of view of a town-based commercial enterprise The songs he discusses are largely ones that did not pass into the singing tradition we are discussing here, but were created for town and city customers, full of Phillidas and Valentines rather the the folk's "Jimmys and Marys". Charles Dibden was typical - a British composer, musician, dramatist, novelist and actor, with over 600 songs to his name who was nioted for his sea-songs but would probably have become seasick if he drank a glass of water The traditional repertoire being discussed here is that of sailors, soldiers, land labourers and workers in rural industries such as textile work and mining - songs made by them and not about them. There are snippets in passings about country singing in Roud and elsewhere, but by an large the songs have been regarded out of context, rather like butterfly collecting - objects in themselves rather than a part of the singers' lives - a social phenomena. This argument has led me to revisit, Maud Karpeles's 'Cecil Sharp's Collection of English Folk Songs', and some of the contemporary collections The thing that strikes me is how remarkably free they are of the stiltedly ham-fisted technique associated with the broadside hacks - not completely, but the ones that aren't stick out like so few sore thumbs. It seems to me obvious that, rather than the folk taking from print, the opposite was the case - the hacks were borrowing ideas from sailors, embarking soldiers, countrymen coming to town to sell their produce and taking songs with dirt under their fingernails and turning them into the pap they ended up as on the presses. We know country people made songs - we know the songs reflected fairly accurately country life and conditions - no 'sons of the soil' or jolly Jack tars' but real ploughboys, sea labourers and soldiers in the ranks - the voice of the people that they have always been regarded - up to recently (and by a few desk-jockeys). A true approach to where our folk songs came from would be to gather together what contemporary information there is, including Baring Gould's writings, Sharps' diaries - anything else available - and compare it to the spurious (in my opinion) claims of literary origin and see which holds the most water - earliest publication dates mean nothing I've often wondered if the BBC project recorded anything more than the songs - it would have been an ideal opportunity to gather information We know that some of the motifs and references used in traditional song making go back to Shakespeare and Boccaccio, even as far as Homer, who was liberally borrowing from folk beliefs Jim Carroll |
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